An Eye for an Eye
by thegirlofmanymoods
Summary: Where is the line between fighting for what you believe in and becoming something worth fighting against? AU
1. Chapter 1

It was hot, too hot for any sensible person to be doing any sort of labour. Unfortunately for Sakura, she didn't have much of a choice. Not if she wanted to avoid the whip.

Her life was all about costs and benefits, pros and cons. The sun burned her skin, but it didn't hurt as much as a beating would. So she forced herself to move forward in the lineup. Such was the life of a slave.

Others in the line groaned and moaned in their shackles as they slowly walked forward. But none complained, they wouldn't dare do that in front of the commanders, a fancy name for the people who the people who 'kept the slaves in check' for the keepers who owned them.

"Next!" a commander yelled. The line moved forward once again. They were waiting to hear which area they would be sent to work in for the day. There were four options for general slaves, slaves without an assigned family or 'job', they could assist in construction, clean up garbage or do other tasks that make the city more "aesthetically pleasing", act as messengers, or complete random other tasks that needed to be done that day. She often acted as a messenger. It was a "cushy" assignment physically, but she had to deal with a lot of stuck up citizens.

The person in front of her was told their task, garbage duty, and they walked off. Before they did, she attempted to stifle a yawn. Her baby brother had been up crying all night again.

She loved the little man, but boy was he loud. "Next," the commander called out. Why did he have to be so loud? Seriously, she was right there. Nevertheless, she stepped forward and held out her wrist, where her number was branded into her skin.

The man checked her wrist and noted it on a clipboard. But before he gave her her task, he turned to the woman beside him. "This one looks relatively unmarked. Still not used to seeing non-family slaves like that."

The woman nodded in agreement. "Tell me about it! Lord Minato's making us be way too soft on them. Ten years ago we were allowed to give them a good whipping whenever we felt like they needed a warning, but now we have to reserve it for punishments only. How are they going to learn discipline? Like, look at this one, barely a scratch on her! Where does she spend most of her time?"

The man flipped through a few pages on the clipboard. "Looks like she's usually a messenger, and rarely anything else."

"Ha! That explains it then. Running around delivering messages, the easiest job there is. Probably so used to it that any other job would seem too hard for the poor princess." The woman stated.

"Let's test out that theory." He turned back to Sakura. "You're going to be on construction today. Do you like that?"

Oh crap, they were talking to her. She felt herself freeze up a little. Sakura hated these situations, where it felt like anything she said was the wrong answer. What could she say? "I am willing and able to complete any task assigned to me," she replied, going with the response she hoped would get her in the least amount of trouble.

The man's eyes traveled up and down her body before turning back to the woman. "I think she might be scared of us, Anko."

Anko grinned and patted the whip attached to her belt. "As she should be. I get suspicious of any that don't show a little fear around me. What do you think about that, girlie?"

There was nothing she could say that could guarantee getting her off scot free. Why were they putting her in a situation like this? Why couldn't they just give her her stupid assignment and be done with it. She opened her mouth but couldn't force words to come out of it.

"You're making me hold up the line, Anko. Just go to do your job, girl," the man told her.

For once, she happily obliged. Without waiting to hear a response from Anko, she quickly fled the area. She hated people like Anko. Well, she hated most commanders, but people like Anko most of all. She was a woman Sakura would have hated to be around before Minato made the slavery reforms.

Not that things were so much better now, she thought as she went to her destination. The reforms had made a few things better like making it mandatory for slaves to get at least six hours of rest in a day (when that rest period happened was up to the keepers), and ensuring that slaves were fed enough so that none of them would starve. These changes were appreciated, but they didn't make their lives perfect either. They were still treated like garbage, still beaten and still given barely enough to survive. Yet citizens, especially keepers, acted like slaves should now act extremely grateful all the time since their lives were so 'easy' now.

After a few more minutes of walking she arrived at her destination. The main project they were currently working on was Minato's and Fugaku's statues. She didn't understand why all the lords and chiefs wanted to have their faces carved into the mountain, but they did so here they were.

Now where was the person who told everyone where they were supposed to go? She looked around but couldn't find anyone who fit the bill. Where could they be? It generally wasn't good for slaves if it looked like they were lollygagging.

After a few more seconds of searching the girl decided that it would be better to just ask someone. She turned to a nearby slave who was hauling lumber. "Excuse me," she said to them as she walked over. "Would you be able to tell me where the person we report to is?"

The person, a boy that looked about five years her junior, motioned to a spot underneath Minato's carving. "He's just underneath there. Right in the shade beside the supplies."

Sakura thanked him before walking over. As she got closer, she soon saw with surprise and a little relief that he was a Hyuga. One of the benefits of being a messenger was that she got to know things about the main families in the city. The Hyugas were known for being 'slave friendly'. Not that they were nice to slaves, but they didn't go out of their way to make their lives horrible. They tended to take a 'you work hard and we won't mistreat you' approach.

There were a couple of people in front of her waiting to hear about their placements. As she waited, she looked around at the area. It seemed like the people working on the carvings were divided up evenly between Minato's and Fugaku's faces. Minato was on the left and Fugaku was on the right, just like how it was presented ever since Hashirama and Madara.

Thankfully she looked back towards the line just in time to see the person in front of her leave. Things may have not gone well for her if it looked like she'd rather be dawdling than working. "Number?" The Hyuga asked her when he looked at her. She raised her wrist to show it to him. He scribbled something on his paper before studying her. "You're usually not assigned to this area are you?" She shook her head. "What area are you usually in?"

"I'm usually a messenger," she replied.

He let out a small grunt of annoyance. "Why do they insist on sending us the inexperienced ones? They just slow down progress." After releasing another groan, he said to her, "Assist the ones stabilizing the scaffolding and ladders for the Minato carving. Try not to make anything worse."

She nodded then went over to her destination. Ugh, she was not looking forward to this. At least she didn't have to be one of the people breaking the rocks. That always looked like the worst job to her.

Ten minutes later she was holding wood in place while others pounded nails into it. She was already sweating in the heat. With her free hand she wiped the growing beads off of her forehead.

"Faster! Put your backs into it!" The call was followed by a crap of a whip. Thankfully it was against the ground and not someone's back. She watched the slaves in front of the commander try to move faster.

Suddenly she felt the fixture she was holding shift a little. Crap, she had loosened her hold! Before it could move again, another pair of hands held it in place. She turned and saw a girl with buns in her hair grinning at her. Sakura smiled in appreciation at her. "Don't normally work in this area, do ya?" The girl whispered.

Sakura's smile dropped and she quickly looked around to see if any of the commanders had heard them. The girl giggled quietly. "You scare easily."

She couldn't help but frown a little. "Sorry for not wanting to get whipped!"

That only made the girl giggled more. "As long as we're quiet about it and don't make it obvious, they won't know. Besides, I'm on good terms with the Hyugas. Or at least, one of them."

This girl was clearly crazy and had a death wish. Sakura knew the smart thing was to just ignore her. She hadn't managed to avoid getting whipped for so long by being stupid. But still, maybe having someone to talk to would be nice. Maybe if she just tried to be super quiet, they could get away with it.

"Uh, okay. As long as you're careful," Sakura whispered as she glanced around at the commanders one more time. They all seemed preoccupied at the moment.

"Great, I knew you weren't the type to just blindly obey them! I'm Tenten," the girl told her.

Sakura felt compelled to correct her as she normally did just 'blindly' obey the keepers, but she liked being thought of as rebellious. "Sakura."

"Slave! Did I tell you to stop?" They both stopped and turned to the direction of the voice.

A commander was currently looking down at a man who had fallen down. His legs had probably buckled under the weight of the rock he had been carrying, which was currently beside him. Normally the commanders didn't do anything if you only fell, but they would get involved if you didn't immediately get back up. The poor man looked horrified, and quickly tried to scurry to his feet.

He was stopped by the commander stepping on his thin garb. "I didn't tell you that you could get up. Do you ever listen to orders?"

Sakura had to resist the urge to tighten her fists, but she did grit her teeth. She really wanted to get involved, at this point nothing the man could say could get him out of trouble. Ah, she hated feeling so useless. She knew there was nothing she could do could help him, but she still had to force herself to not go towards them.

Someone else apparently did not feel the same way. Just as the commander was taking out his whip, a boy appeared in front of the man. "Please! Don't hurt my dad."

"Oh no," Tenten whispered.

"I'll take his load. He's been feeling sick lately. Just please don't hurt him," the boy urged.

The commander paused for a moment before speaking. "You wish to take the place of your father?"

"Yes!"

He turned to the man. "Listen to that, you're going to let your own son do you work for you? You disgust me. And you." His gaze turned to the boy. "If you want to help your father, you can take his punishment instead. Slaves, listen up!" He called out, raising his voice. "This is what you happen when you defy us. Now watch."

The boy screamed as the whip hit him. The whip slashed against his skin, again and again and again. Sakura couldn't tear her eyes away as he wailed and cried out. The lashes continued until his wounds were gushing with blood. Then the commander yelled at all of them to get back to work.

She and Tenten didn't talk after that. Sakura knew that she should feel numb to this now, this was hardly the first beating that she had witnessed. But she hated that they were treated like this, and hated those who were doing this to them. She just wanted to get away, to escape this life and become a medic somewhere far away. Somewhere where they didn't treat people like animals, no, worse than animals.

They worked for several more hours on the carvings. When they were about to finish, Sakura gazed up at their progress. As much as she hated their stupid faces, it was nice to see the fruits of their labour come together. The outline of Minato's face was complete and now they just had to work on the facial features and details.

"You're so slow, Sasuke!"

"Slow down, dobe."

Sakura didn't have to look up to know who was speaking. Naruto Uzumaki, son of Lord Minato and next in line to be Hokage. Close to him was apparently Sasuke Uchiha, son of Chief Fugaku and now next in line to head the Uchiha family since Itachi had left a year ago. The two most powerful teens in the realm, which wasn't a particularly comforting idea.

"Come on baka, I want to show you my new technique!"

Please don't do anything stupid, she silently asked as she held a ladder in place. They had enough things to worry about without those two making things worse. Please practice your stupid magic somewhere else, preferably somewhere in the middle of nowhere where they couldn't break anything.

"Not now, dobe."

"Come on, scared I'll show you up?"

Sasuke snorted. "Not likely."

"Well I will! See, Raseng-"

There were a few muffled sounds and words, like they were fighting. Then an explosion went off, causing her and everyone around them to jump. The scaffolding above her creaked and moaned, and the ladder shifted out of her grip and began to fall. The person on it yelped as they lost their footing and scrambled for something to hold onto. Sakura and Tenten had to grab onto him to stop him from plummeting to the ground below.

Once he was safe on her platform she released him and looked around to see the damage the blast had caused. The Minato carving seemed fine for the most part, though the scaffolding was somewhat dented. The Fugaku carving however, was a different story. A large chunk of rock had broken off from the area that was supposed to be his left eye. All the wood and metal frames close to the point of impact were destroyed.

"Naruto!" The Hyuga keeper growled out.

"Sorry my bad. Well, our bad technically," the blond in question said sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. How could he so nonchalant about this? Sakura didn't know much about construction, but she knew that this kind of damage could take weeks to repair.

Sasuke didn't even respond, like he refused to involve himself or something. Some of the wood was burnt, a sign that fire magic was used, and he was flexing his hand. Uchihas were known for their fire magic, so he had obviously been involved. Did he feel like he was above taking responsibility or something?

Before the Hyuga could respond, Naruto scurried off. Sasuke made a show of rolling his eyes before he followed his friend. Ah! Did those two not care about all the extra work they just created? Work that the slaves would have to carry out, because they obviously didn't have enough to do already. And at least Naruto, the clueless selfish idiot that he was, at least kinda admitted fault (though he still didn't attempt to do anything about it). Sasuke on the other hand, clearly contributed to the incident, but didn't acknowledge it. Classic Uchiha arrogance. The future of the Land Hidden in the Leaves was in such great hands. They were all doomed.

The sound of someone gasping in pain pulled her away from her thoughts. Her gaze flew to the source of the noise and she saw a man crushed underneath the rubble. Thankfully a couple of people were already there helping him. Poor man, if his legs were crushed he'd likely be "euthanized", since to the keepers a lame slave was a useless slave. Hopefully he didn't have a family. What a horrible way to go out, all because of a couple of idiots that didn't care about those who worked so hard but were treated like they were nothing.

She noticed that the Hyuga and a couple of commanders were discussing what to do. Thankfully they were close enough to let her hear snippets of the conversation.

"Have to work longer."

"Their break is mandatory."

"Renegotiate."

"Can't afford this right now."

"Work them harder."

Oh great. She understood why they would make decision, but her body was already actively groaning in protest. Hopefully Sasuke and Naruto would get punished somehow for this.

The remainder of the day was spent trying to clear the rubble. After a few hours most of it was removed and the rest should be gone by the next day. Sakura was seriously hoping that she would go back to being a messenger after this, physical labour was really not her forte. Also being a messenger made her feel like she was informed, as she often got to hear tidbits of gossip. Even if she never acted on the information, knowledge was power and thus made her feel important.

The walk home was a long one, as the slave area was a little ways outside the city. She tried to move quickly as the trip back and forth was included in the rest period. However something made her pause as she neared the gates. On the road there was a crinkled poster that read 'Everyone Is Human, Free The Slaves'.

That was odd, she wondered who made it. It was illegal for slaves to promote anti slavery propaganda, so only the bravest slaves would attempt it. Perhaps one of the slave friendly families put it up. The ones that were the most 'friendly' were the Naras, the Yamanakas, and the Akimichis. But as nice as they could be to their slaves, she didn't see any of them actually being anti slavery. Who else could it be?

Well, whoever it was should consider doing more than just put up posters. If slaves would ever be free, it would take a lot more than paper to make it happen.

Minato found himself clenching his jaw for the nth time today. "How many times must I say no?"

"And how many times must I say that it's our best option?" Fugaku demanded as he paced around the throne room.

Minato's fist hit the arm of his chair. "We are not going to kill hundreds of people."

"Hundreds of infant slaves," Fugaku corrected as he paused from his pacing to face his Lord. "And if you have a better solution I would love to hear it."

"We need more time," Minato reasoned.

"You always need more time, you're just stalling because you don't want to do what needs to be done. The slaves are overpopulating, they have more infants now than they ever had before. Sure it is not an issue now, but in ten years we will be overrun. We won't have enough resources to handle them. And what if they decide to try to get free? They may just have enough members to attempt a revolt."

Keep calm, keep calm, Minato tried to tell himself. "You're still talking about murdering people."

"You're still not providing an alternative," Fugaku argued.

"Let's say we do as you propose. Do you really expect the slaves to just go along with this, to just wave goodbye to their dying babies? This more than anything else may inspire a rebellion. And there are quite a few citizens who would not take the news well," Minato said as he waved his hands to emphasize his point.

"We don't have to tell the citizens, we can carry it out at night. As for the slaves, it is a risk we'll have to take. They've been quite obedient as of late, and if needed, we can increase their disciplinary measures."

"That would only make them want to rebel more," Minato responded.

"And you're being too soft on them," Fugaku growled out. "The more lenient you are on them, the more they'll think they can get away with. Give them enough handouts and they'll start acting like citizens."

"The reforms I've put in place have only improved their work performance," Minato pointed out. "And there have been less punishments given out."

"It's also been putting more strain on the keepers," said Fugaku.

"Yes," Minato said dryly. "When you treat humans like humans and not objects, it does require a bit of effort."

Fugaku's eyes narrowed. "Your actions have made you appear soft to many of the main families. Like you don't want to carry out any discipline. And based on the actions of your son today, I am beginning to agree with them."

Minato stiffened defensively. "If memory serves, your own son was involved in that incident as well."

"And he is being held accountable, which is more than I can say for yours," Fugaku responded. "But I digress. The point is, we need to crack down on them. If we do not take action, those slaves while die in a decade or two when we don't have enough food to support them all. This way we won't have to our resources strained. We can't afford to look weak to the other nations. If you do not issue the command, I will."

Minato stood up. "You don't have the authority," he growled out.

Fugaku froze and the look in his eyes was deadly. "Don't I?"

Minato held his ground. "No, you don't. In case you've forgotten, yes you are the second most powerful person in this country. But the keyword there is second. You can do many things, command the army, approve acts, and even enact laws. But you cannot override my authority."

"Those are dangerous words," Fugaku said in a low tone.

"But they are true," Minato responded.

"The Uchihas are the strongest family in Konoha. Hypothetically, if there was another coup...things would not go well."

If Minato had less self control he would have lashed out at the Uchiha for threatening him like that. "Would you really consider civil war and the death of your family over this?"

"If the way you are handling this choice is indicative of the future, I will not have to risk much. The other families will act before I do anything."

Fugaku was treading the line very closely, however his words did contain some truth. Minato did not think that he was 'coddling' the slaves as others put it, but others in Konoha seemed to think so. If he wanted to implement positive change, he would have to do so slowly. As for this decision, he felt like he was being forced into a corner. It just felt wrong, no matter how Fugaku argued in favour of it. But what other choice did he have? He did not want to risk too much infighting between the families, especially since the other nations may see that as weakness and pounce.

"Fine," he said with gritted teeth, "We will carry out the proposal starting tomorrow night." Fugaku showed the infamous Uchiha smirk. "However," Minato dropped his tone. "If you ever talk to me like again, you will regret it, and you may find yourself with a lot less power than you had before."

Fugaku narrowed his eyes, but did not say anything before he slipped out of the room to instruct the commanders.

* * *

 **Hey everyone. So this is a tad different than my other fics. It's going to be on the darker side of things for the most part. And I'm just going to put it out there now, many if not most characters will be at least a little ooc. That being said, I hope you guys enjoy it. Please let me know what you think.**


	2. How Could You

Sakura groaned as she forced herself to wake up. She longed for an opportunity to sleep in for once. The fact that she would never be able to do so was depressing. Ah well, she could always hope she supposed.

She slowly rose from her bed and rubbed her eyes. Then she glanced out the window only to be met with...darkness? That couldn't be right, they always got up at sunrise. And she never woke early, her body seemed determined to always get as much sleep as possible. So what forced her awake?

Then she heard the cries. She jolted upright when she heard them. There were terrible cries, women and men were screaming, crying and begging. She couldn't make out any of the wailes, what was going on? Her eyes peeled around the room. Others in the room were also looking around in confusion. She whispered to her father, who was also awake, "What's going on?" He looked at her in confusion and shrugged.

Whatever it was, it wasn't good and she wanted to find out. What if someone was attacking them or something? So she creeped towards the door. "Sakura stop!" Her father urged. It was discouraged for slaves to leave their compounds at night, as it could lead to secret gatherings or escape attempts. But she wanted to know, so she left anyway. If someone was hurting them she couldn't just sit by and do nothing. At the very least she could warn the others.

She crept around the door to the nearby bush. Sakura turned her head to the direction of the noise, a compound on her right. It didn't look like there were any guards between her and the large shack, but she could never be too careful. Keeping her body low to the ground, she snuck through the shaded areas near the back of the buildings. As she moved, the gravity of her actions began to hit her. She could get in serious trouble for doing this. Other slaves that snuck out were beaten very severely. That thought made her body tense up. She was a wimp when it came to getting beaten, that was always why she took steps to avoid it. Just the thought of the whip made her grit her teeth. Maybe she should turn back?

"Faster!" she froze as she heard a pair of guards speed to her destination. She froze beside a nearby wall and held in her breath, begging whatever deity out there to make them miss her. Thankfully, her wish was granted as they ran right past her. That was too close, her legs were still shaking. It likely wouldn't get any easier for her if she continued. But she had already gotten this far. And she was so close to her destination now, it was just a few more steps away. You can do this, she thought trying to psyche herself up, just a little farther. Just be brave for a little while. Then you can turn back.

She silently moved behind them until she beside the compound. She strained her neck to glance into the entrance of the building. There was so much crying, from women and men. But the loudest of all was infants. When she was able to look at what was going on, her eyes opened in shock.

Surrounded by guards, there were men in masks gathering infants, tiny babies. Mothers and fathers were wailing, begging them not to take them. Some of the braver slaves were trying to forcibly guard their offspring, but to no avail. They were too weak, and the masked men and guards were too strong. In a battle of strength they did not stand a chance against almighty Konoha. Part of her wanted to help, but she was in too much shock to move.

The men placed the babies into large baskets. What the? Her eyes widened in confusion. Why on earth were they collecting babies? And at night, with no prior warning during the day. It couldn't be for any good reason, they were literally tearing them from their parents. What the heck was wrong with those people? Once they had collected the infants, they left, and the guards stood at the door holding back any slaves that tried to get them back.

There could be no good reason for doing this. No notice had been given out beforehand, no one even mentioned it before. Sakura was now determined to find out what this was about, why these evil men were doing such a cruel act. And if the guards were involved, the government must be involved somehow, maybe they were the ones who orchestrated it. Sakura wanted to be surprised by that, but she really wasn't.

Out of the compound, the men broke off into two groups. One went to the next compound over, the others left with the full baskets. Once she was far enough behind them to not be noticed, she followed the men carrying the babies. She made sure to stick to the shadows and side streets to avoid being seen.

The men traveled far in the streets, keeping on the paths away from the civilian areas. So they didn't want the main population seeing what they were doing. That only made the pinkette more nervous, as many civilians normally turned a blind eye to cruelty against slaves anyway, so whatever this was must be especially bad.

The men eventually met with another group of masked men also carrying the baskets. She continued on behind them until they arrived at an exit out of the city. She had only left the city once before, slaves weren't allowed to leave unless they had permission by a keeper. And they were rarely if ever allowed to leave alone. She'd have to find some way to sneak out after them. Wait, was she really going to do this? She'd get into some trouble by being out of the compound at night, but she'd really get it if she was caught trying to leave the city. That thought made her body freeze up. What was she doing? It's not like she could accomplish much by snooping around. She was just one person, one small meaningless little slave.

But she was already able to make it this far, farther than she would have expected herself to make it. And at this point if she turned back her curiosity and anxiety for her people would eat her alive. Besides, a part of her felt done with being a good little slave that constantly followed orders and kept in line. Her compound was filled with slaves like that and look at what had just happened to them. If she was going to be treated like garbage, at least it could be because of doing things her own way.

The men talked to the guards at the entrance, who let them pass after a few moments. She saw her opportunity to sneak by when the guards seemed preoccupied with a few documents. Her heart thudded in her chest as she moved through the gap before she could talk herself out of it.

Immediately after she got out she hid behind a large tree. She heard one of the guards mumble "Did you hear something?" But the second guard said no and they didn't decide to act further. She would have exhaled in relief if she wasn't so focused on being quiet. She did it! Despite the circumstances around her departure, she did feel a little satisfaction at being able to do what she never thought possible. Now where did those masked people go? She had had to wait about a minute before being able to leave the city, which had made her fall behind. What direction should she even start to look in?

Ugh, this was not good. If she chose the wrong direction, she could lose them, but if she took too long to decide, she'd lose them no matter what. Okay, where would everything lead? The path on the left lead to the river, if she went straight it would lead into the forest, and if she went right that would lead her to the main road used for traveling and trade. Well, if they had been avoiding civilians so far, they probably wouldn't take the main road and risk being seen. Maybe if she tried to go left but stick to the trees, she could find them on either side.

That was what she did. Moving slightly faster than before, she slipped between trees and bushes while trying to find her target. Seconds then minutes passed and still she saw no one. How had they escaped her so quickly? Gah, curse them for moving so fast. As she was about to continue forward, she noticed a new path up ahead. It led out of the forested area, and towards the river. But it was littered with rocks and other debris. Should she risk going on it? She still wasn't sure if it was right, not to mention how it would hurt her bare feet.

But if she wanted to find out what was going on, she'd have to take risks. She had already made it this far, what were a few rocks? So she took a gamble and forged on ahead. She tried her best to avoid the sharpest stones, but she still had to wince occasionally when the harsh terrain punctured her feet. Okay, so the 'few rocks' were actually quite painful.

Her risk was rewarded when she finally saw the masked ones up ahead. They were lining up at the river. She strained to see what the one at the front was doing. He held up the basket, tilted it forward and-OH SHIT!

They were throwing the babies into the river.

What the? How could-What? This didn't-No! They were just throwing them like rocks, like objects. How could they do this? Oh gosh, why were they doing this? Sakura fell to the ground and promptly threw up at the sight. They were literally killing innocent babies, infants who never had the chance to grow up, to live, to love.

How were they getting away with this? Who okay'd this? Her mind instantly flew to the Uchihas. It was well known that they thought of slaves as property, objects that needed to be punished frequently. This was extreme, even for them. And did Minato okay this? The more optimistic slaves hoped that Minato would one day free them, or at least make their lives much more bearable. Sakura never believed that, but she never thought he would do something like this, stoop to this low.

She hated those men, hated whoever was involved, hated whoever could have said no to this but let it happen anyway. Tears slipped down her cheeks. Tears of sadness, and tears of anger.

They just kept throwing them, basket after basket. Did any of them feel remorse? Did any of them question what they did? It didn't matter to her if they did feel guilty, only their actions mattered. They were all murders, every single one of them. All of them deserved to die for their despicable actions. If only she was strong enough to stop them. Stop them from harming every single slave baby.

Then a thought occurred to her that changed her emotions from hatred to horror. What if they came after her brother? He was less than two years old, a prime target for them. There was no reason for them to avoid him.

If she had been thinking clearly, she would have waited until they brought him to the river to act. But she wasn't. Without a second thought, she turned and raced back to the city. This time she was too high on adrenaline to care about the sharp rocks or the pain that accompanied them. Please hold on, she begged her brother. She forced her legs to move as fast as possible.

It was a miracle that she got through the city entrance with no one seeing her, as she wasn't doing much to keep herself hidden at the moment. She did try to keep to the side streets, as part of her recognized that it would do her no good if she was discovered. But she wasn't nearly so careful this time as she streaked through Konoha to the slave areas.

After what felt like an eternity she reached her compound. She hurried inside, only to find her mother and father sobbing among countless other parents. It only took a glance at her brother's empty place on the bed to realise what happened. Sakura slammed her fist on the wall and cursed out loud. She had been too late. Damn, why couldn't she have been faster? If only she had been on time she could have...well she could have done something.

Maybe there was still time. Maybe she could cut them off before the river. She just had to try. With this thought in mind, she raced back out again, ignoring the calls of her parents.

For the third time she raced through the streets of Konoha, this time more brazen than before. At this point there were other slaves that had ventured out with the same motivation as her own. But unlike her, they took the main roads and thought that they could plead with the guards. Could she ever look at the guards without disdain now? She didn't think so. And she knew better than to think that they would do the right thing, or at the very least turn a blind eye. So they were stopped while she went through. As she moved, she noticed a strange sight. Hinata Hyuga, a possible future head of the Hyuga family, was looking around outside with eyes filled with horror. Maybe all the families weren't made aware of this act then. Strange that the government would go through with such a huge motion without the approval of the big families. What would make them go to such drastic action?

A slave, presumably one of the Hyuga's house slaves, came running out of the compound and immediately began pleading with Hinata. Sakura slowed down and watched the scene from behind some old boxes. Her breath was heavy from all of her running, but she hardly noticed at this point. The slave motioned to the guards with teary eyes and it became clear to the pinkette that this was a mother who had just had her baby taken. The Hyuga just looked at her uncertain eyes. The slave resorted falling down to their knees and begging, anything for their child back. Hinata just looked back with an expression that said she'd rather be anywhere but here, forced to deal with such a situation. When it became that the girl wasn't about to act on the slave's behalf, Sakura spat in disgust and moved on. That's what slaves got for years of loyal service. She knew that Hinata was known for being docile and rarely acted impulsively, so she understood why such a quick decision would have caused turmoil for the girl. But that didn't excuse her actions, or rather her inaction. Too many in Konoha witnessed the cruelty shown to slaves and did nothing. Hinata was scum, just like the rest of them.

This time the guards did notice her and one yelled at her to stay back. But thankfully for her there were others trying to get through at the same time that preoccupied those at the post, so she could slip through.

As she took the rocky path once more, she wondered just how much damage her feet would incur by the end of the night. But forced herself to discard the thought. With everything happening tonight, her appendages were the least of her worries. She'd cut off her feat if it meant that she could save her brother. Come on, move faster!

After what felt like years, she finally reached the river. The men were already standing over the edge of the rocks. Just as she neared them, they threw the basket contents and she watched in horror as a familiar baby with pink hair tumbled out to the watery depths below. Shit! She was too late. Her eyes filled with tears and her body froze. Oh gosh, oh shit. Her brother. Her brother was-shit! He was going to drown. No! Oh fuck, please no.

But, drowning wasn't instant, or at least it wasn't always. What if he managed to land on a stray rock or something? She had to try. Sakura bolted past the masked men, away from the edge of the rock cliff they stood on towards the river's shore. The men made no move to stop her, likely thinking that they'd just deal with her once she came back from the river or something.

She reached the banks of the water and was about to jump in when someone moved quickly in front of her.

"Stop," said Sasuke Uchiha.

What was he doing here? Nevermind, it didn't matter, only saving her brother mattered right now. "Let me by!" she urged him.

"No. you'll just drown," he told her dismissively.

"I have to save him!" She exclaimed. "Please, just let me by. I'm not even asking you to help me or anything."

"No," he said again in a slightly annoyed tone, as if he was having to chastise a child.

"He's my brother!" Why the fuck couldn't he just let her by?

"And you won't save him, you'll just die too," he glared at her. "I'll whip you if I have to. Just go back home already."

Fine, it was clear he wasn't going to assist her in any way. She'd have to go around him. She had already made it so far, she just needed to take a few more steps. Sakura bolted around him, or at least tried to do so.

But he caught her easily, how was he so fast? Just as soon as he caught her he threw her down to the ground. "Che," he spat out. "Annoying. Remember, I gave you a warning."

Then he took his whip out. Despite herself, Sakura froze in fear. It had been so long since she had been beaten, she had always taken so many precautions to avoid it. She could count the amount of times she'd been whipped on one hand, it was why she had so few scars. "No," she whispered.

Then the whip came down. It made contact on her face, splitting open the skin on her nose. She cried out in pain and agony. Agony for being hurt, and for being denied the opportunity to save her own blood. Her fists clenched until they were white. It came down again and again, this time targeting her limbs and stomach. Each time she whimpered and gasped. She forced herself to keep her eyes open, but he never made eye contact. Couldn't even look at her in the eyes as he reached havoc on her body.

There were ten lashes in total. The old keepers may have deemed that a 'cushy' punishment, but it was too much for the pinkette. Her body felt like it was on fire and everything hurt. Sasuke then wiped the blood off the whip, like her blood was unworthy of his torture device, before looking down at her and saying, "go home."

She watched him turn and walk away. Was he really going to just leave after making such a show of making her stay and let her brother die? Maybe he figured that she would be too sore, too broken to attempt it. But then she saw him stop and talk to the masked people, close enough to try and grab her if needed.

Her eyes narrowed at him as she watched him casually talk to the people who had just committed mass murder. If there had been any doubt that the Uchihas had orchestrated, or at least knew about this attack on the slaves, it was now gone. Sasuke, that smug piece of shit, could have just let her go by. Could have just let her try to save her brother. But he hadn't, and he had punished her for doing so. She hated him so much right then, wanted him dead. Wanted him to be the one drowning and alone instead of her brother.

Sakura let her head fall back into the dirt. She just felt defeated. Her brother was going to die, if he hadn't already. She was beaten for trying to save his life. And there was never going to be a consequence for this, the people who had murdered innocents were just going to go on like it was just another day. She hated this, hated this life, a life where she had nothing but a bleak and short future to look forward to. Tiredness consumed her. She just wanted to leave, to go anywhere but here and stay there forever.

She looked up into the river and was tempted to let herself fall into it, to be consumed by the water. What if she could escape somehow? She didn't know where it led, but wherever it was had to be a better place than this.

Sakura decided to be impulsive for the final time that night. Before she could let her beaten body tell her otherwise, she leapt up and sped towards the river. Perhaps if she was fast enough she could outrun the men if they came after her. She heard Sasuke grunt and sped up. Just as she was almost there, a hand caught the helm of her rags. Determined to not be stopped by him again, she clawed at his hand while simultaneously trying to leap towards the water. That loosened his hold enough to get out of the release, but it also made her stumble.

Instead of the control leap that she planned, she fell into the water. Her head slammed against a rock and darkness consumed her.

* * *

Kabuto was surrounded by incompetence.

Or at least that's what it felt like. He had been spending the last few days trying to find a specimen, the perfect specimen. If the experiment for a new kind of warrior was to go well, he needed a human that fit his specifications. But so far noone his underlings had brought forward fit the bill. How was he supposed to impress Orochimaru, the best scientist in the world, and become his apprentice if he couldn't even find a good subject?

It's not like his demands were overly complex. He needed someone who hasn't taken any medications or vaccines in the past ten years and wasn't in too much of a bad physical state. They also couldn't have a weak mind, with the amount of resources going towards this person, he couldn't have someone who would quickly need a suicide or escape watch.

The people brought to him this morning all didn't work for one reason or another. One was a slave who fit the no medications qualification, as slaves did not receive vaccines and only got medications if their keepers really liked them (which was rare and only really happened in the slave sympathiser families). However he could tell within thirty seconds that the person lacked the will to survive the experiments. Another was an orphan who was much too beaten up to be of any use. The final one was a civilian girl, which was automatically useless as all civilians had received vaccines two years ago after an outbreak.

He had to take a break from it all and go by the river. Although once he got there he didn't find it particularly relaxing as he remembered the events of the night before. Every slave aged two and under was rounded up and killed. It had caused quite the stir, especially in families that were more friendly to slaves. The Ino-Shika-Cho families had apparently all demanded to see the Uchihas and Minato, as well as grant all their affected slaves a one week grievance period.

Kabuto was also not fond of the actions of their dual Lords. If they infants were to be taken away, they could have been at least been donated to labs instead of killed. Think of all the experiments that could be done with those many subjects! Subjects that had no restrictions, no humanitarian laws to be forced to follow. It would have been a dream come true. But alas, no one thinks of the scientists.

His train of thought stopped when something, or rather someone, appeared from the river. The person's upper body was suspended above the water by a piece of driftwood. The wood lead them to the bank right beside Kabuto's lab. That was an odd sight.

Curiosity led him down to see the person who was now sprawled on the shore of the river. If the person had managed to stay above the water the entire time, perhaps they were still alive. The individual was turned face down, so he turned them over to get a better look.

It was a young woman, likely near the age of eighteen. She had pink hair, quite the odd colour. One glance at her rags told him that she was a slave, probably tried to run away or something. What was surprising was her body seemed to actually be in decent shape for a slave. She did have some wounds, but they all seemed quite recent. If her skin looked this good, she was either a house slave for some sympathizer family or was just very obedient.

Hmm, would she be a good subject for him? Assuming she was alive of course. She wouldn't have had any vaccines, and it did appear that she was in good shape, though that may require further examination. A bonus of being a slave was that they had very few laws regarding what they could or couldn't do them. All that was left was her mental aptitude.

Just about as he was about to check on her living status, she coughed and opened her eyes. Her green eyes were initially filled with confusion and she looked around before settling her gaze on him.

"Hello," he greeted her. He began to kneel down and noticed that as soon as he did so she flinched and tried to move back. That wasn't surprising. Whether or not she had deliberately went down the river, there was some keeper out there who was probably not too happy about her missing. And she had no reason to believe that he wouldn't immediately turn her over to the authorities.

"Now now, I'm not going to hurt you," he told her. "I admit that I may not be the prettiest sight to see after a nap." His attempt at humour failed to garner a reaction from her. "That was quite a tumble through the river you took. Are you feeling alright?"

She studied him, as if trying to decipher his intentions. But before she could come to a conclusion, they were interrupted by a guard coming up to them. "Yakushi, sir," the guard stopped and glanced at the girl, who seemed nervous and a little defeated by the guard's presence. "Is everything okay here?"

Perhaps the girl would not be a good subject for him after all. She seemed too docile and anxious, not strong willed enough to survive what he would put her through. "What did you need?" Kabuto asked, weighing if he should tell the guard that the girl was a runaway or not.

"I just wanted to let you know that the Uchihas have ordered there to be more security in the nearby town, so you may see more patrols close to here in the future," she explained.

That would have annoyed Kabuto if he had not noticed the pink haired woman's reaction to the name 'Uchiha'. Her eyes held such hatred. He knew that most slaves disliked the Uchihas, but she seemed to detest them, she was practically seething. And she was letting that disgust show, whereas most slaves would have been too scared to show it, or show any emotion for that matter. Perhaps one of her family members died in the river? Ah that would make sense, maybe she had went into the river to save them. He could use that anger and determination, with enough anger one could survive anything as long as the rage was directed at the right source.

Maybe he could use her as his subject after all. With a small smile on his face, he turned back towards the guard. "Thank you for letting me know. Is there anything else?" The guard shook her head. "Very well, that is all," he dismissed the woman.

When she had left, he turned back to the girl. "I have a proposition for you."

* * *

 **Sorry for the long wait guys, hope it was worth it!**


	3. Getting Stronger

"And stop."

Sakura stopped her attack on her opponent and stood up. Sweat dripped from her forehead and her chest heaved from the effort. Despite her muscles aching, she bent down a little to help her opponent, one of the many experimenter staff, up. She didn't particularly like the person, didn't know them well enough to have much of an opinion, but it was a nice gesture and she knew it was important to stay in their good graces. The person quickly accepted her hand and stood up.

The experimenter beside them kept writing on their clipboard without looking up. "Good progress. Improvements in speed and technique, but stamina level still needs work."

She resisted the urge to glare at them. She was trying incredibly hard to improve, and she was. So what if one thing could be better? If she could take out her enemy quickly, who cares if she got tired soon afterward?

Still, it did irk her that that she had such a glaring weakness. If she wanted to come even close to achieving her goal, she had to be in perfect condition. And if she was going to be honest with herself, she wasn't progressing as quickly as she wanted. She had been here for a few months now, and while she was doing well considering the fact that she was a beginner when she started, there were several other experimental subjects that could probably outmatch her. And she wanted to be the best.

"You are free to go," the person behind the clipboard told her. "You're done for the day."

Sakura nodded at them and walked away from the sandy pit. Thankfully the bath area was close by. Maybe it was a little vain, but she hated feeling grimy and dirty.

Ten minutes later she finished her bath and dressed in her normal outfit, white pants and a plain black shirt. As soon as she began to move the curtain back, it was suddenly swung open.

A smirking Kabuto was looking at her. She was surprised the first few times he did things like this, now she just expected it. Though he never explained his intentions, she knew by now that he seemed to have an obsession with catching his subjects unaware. Maybe he thought that they would be more honest that way. Part of her was expecting him to just to walk in on her naked one day.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said in a happy tone.

"Not at all," she replied evenly.

"I just wanted to see how you were progressing since the last time we talked," he said as he took a step towards her, coming very close to invading her personal space.

She resisted the urge to take a step back. _If you wanted to know you could just check the reports_! "Steadily, I suppose."

"Are you happy with your progress?"

Sakura shrugged. "Somewhat, but I'd like to see myself improve more." Somehow she suspected that he would know if she was lying.

His grin grew. "Drive and honesty, that's what I like to see out of my subjects."

He stood there for a moment without saying anything. She waited for a few moments, but still he remained silent. So finally, she spoke up, "Is there anything else you wanted?"

Somehow his facial expression got even creepier and she suddenly regretted her statement. "Why? Am I bothering you?"

"No," she quickly tried to backtrack. "I just wanted to ensure that you had all the answers you needed."

"How thoughtful," he said. "Fortunately, I don't need anything else from you. Do you have any questions for me?"

He stepped forward a little, now almost touching her. Her instinct was once again to step back, and she almost did. But before she lifted her leg she stopped herself. If she let herself submit like this to him, what chance did she have against the Uchihas? "No, if I think of anything I'll let you know," she told firmly. Or at least, she hoped it was firmly.

"Very good," he told her. "Until next time."

He took off behind the curtain. She waited a few moments to make sure that he had actually left before relaxing. The thing that bothered her the most about him was that she couldn't figure out his motive. Kabuto always acted like he was trying to discern something about her, and some of the other subjects, but she couldn't discern what.

Was it loyalty? Maybe trying to figure out who was likely to bolt? But that sounded like something one would discern before taking them on as experiments. Besides, as far as she knew, everyone here had nowhere else to go. She had somewhere she wanted to go, but she knew it would be a long time before she ready. If not loyalty, maybe he was trying to discern people's current mental state? But if that was the case, he had a very odd way of going about it.

She left the bath area after depositing her old clothes in a bin. Part of her just wanted to call him creepy and drop it, but the curious part of her wouldn't let her do that. People didn't just act certain ways, everything had a reason.

"Oi, Sakura."

Sakura looked over to see Suigetsu, another one of the subjects at the facility, sitting on a bench. "What were you doing with Kabuto? You two having some sort of affair?"

She didn't bother gracing that with a reply. Instead she just gave him a look. He threw up his arms, "Okay, maybe you weren't. But what was he doing then?"

Sakura moved and sat beside him. He shifted to give her more room on the bench. The two were more acquaintances than friends, but he was the only one she routinely shared more than one sentence a day with. "I'm not sure. I mean, it's not the first time he's done that, come when I'm just done changing. I don't think it's sexually motivated, he's never seen perverted about it."

"So why do it then?" He questioned.

She shrugged. "Maybe it's a power thing? Showing that he can come see me whenever he wants. Or he just like catching me off guard when I'm vulnerable."

"Whatever it is, it's messed up," he said with distaste. "That man is screwed in the head."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Says the man who has killed people."

"At least my motivation made sense," he said.

"Which was?" she asked out of curiosity, eager to hear more of his backstory.

He gave a toothy grin. "I liked it, and the bastard had it coming."

She huffed at him. "Out of the pair of you I don't know which one I'd rather be trapped in a cave with."

"Hey, if it came down to it at least I'd just kill you, not experiment on you," he stated with his eyes narrowed.

Sakura chose to ignore the morbidity of that statement. "Why do you hate being experimented on so much? Wouldn't you be in prison if not here?"

"Yeah, and that would have been preferable to this," he said. Looking down, he added. "Anything is better than this. Getting treated like some guinea pig."

Her eyebrows went up in surprise. She had known that he didn't like it here, but she didn't know he hated it that much.

"I know it's not exactly a picnic, but is it really that bad?" she asked.

He gave her an angry look before trying to compose himself. "You wouldn't understand."

Her brow furrowed. "I wouldn't? I'm going through the exact situation you're in."

"But you were a slave before this, right? You're used to being treated like a piece of property, like some object. For those of us that didn't grow up like that, it's dehumanising."

Sakura clenched her fists. "So me being a slave was a good thing? Is that what you're saying?"

"No. Gah, you're not understanding me," he stated. "What I'm going through, what we're going through right now, is hell. We're poked and prodded all day, whether we consent to it or not. All of our agency is taken away. You can hardly take a piss without some lab coat standing nearby to analyse it. I hate it! I used to go wherever I wanted, do whatever I wanted. But now I'm a lab rat. I dread every day. But you, you just go along with everything. You're used to life like this. I'm not saying that's a good thing, but it's why you're not hating every second like I am."

"I don't like it either," she said, still feeling a little defensive. She didn't like being labeled like some complacent being that just went along with everything. "I'm using what we're being subjected to."

His lips came up in a half smirk. "Really now? For what?"

The girl scanned the area before continuing. Kabuto and his lackeys may have suspected her motivation, but she didn't want to go out and say it if they were listening. "I'm getting revenge against someone."

He paused before a look of amusement crossed his face. "Really? Are you just going to walk out when you feel ready or what?"

She shrugged. "I don't have a solid plan yet."

"Of course you don't," he said.

Sakura frowned. "I'm not ready yet anyway."

"Sure, sure," Suigetsu said. "Who's this you want revenge against anyways? Your old owners?"

She shook her head. "I was owned by the city, not a specific family."

"Did the city do any-wait," he said. "They rounded up the infants and killed them right? What, was someone from your family killed in it or something?"

How could he talk about such a horrific event so casually? Tiny children who never got a chance at life were murdered, and he was talking about the same way he would ask what she ate for lunch. She knew that he killed before, so maybe human life didn't mean that much to him. Or perhaps because it was all slaves that died he didn't care. Either way, she didn't like how he talked about it.

"Judging by your expression I hit a nerve, so I'm going to go ahead and say yes," he stated. "And my condolences."

He didn't sound particularly sorrowful about the event and she told him that. "Yes, I can tell that you're just broken up about it."

"Hey," he spoke up. "I said my condolences. Besides, it didn't happen anywhere near me. And I'm generally not the type to get all sad about death. So pardon me if I'm not tearing up right now."

It was hard, but she tried to not take it personally. "Fine."

"So if that happened to your sibling or whoever, who are you trying to get revenge against?" His eyes lit up as he thought of the answer. "You're not trying to go up against the Uchihas are you?"

He made her goal sound so foolish when he said it like that. He may as well have said that she was planning to move the sun. "Mainly one in specific, but yes," she said.

Suigetsu laughed. "Good luck with that. Tell you what, if you actually manage to go up against them, I'll try my best to make sure that your corpse gets a proper burial."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she replied dryly.

"You're trying to fight one of the strongest and most powerful families in the world. You're a, or at least you were, a slave. Those aren't good betting odds," he said.

Sakura opened her mouth to defend herself but was cut off when a person in a uniform walked towards them. "Sakura, Suigetsu. Kabuto wished to inform you that the two of you, amoung some of the other test subjects, will be accompanying him out of the facility in a couple of days."

What? This was the first time she would leave the place since she got here. Before she could get a word in, or fully react to it, Suigetsu spoke up. "And where exactly are we going to?"

"I can't disclose that information yet," the person spoke up.

"Why?" He persisted. "It's not like we're going to go around gossiping. Who would we tell? The rats?"

The person shifted a little in annoyance. "Suigetsu."

"Or do you think we'll not want to go if we know where it is? It's not like we're really in a position to say no." He persisted. Sakura had to force herself not to act like she wasn't there. As much as she hated to admit it, she still dreaded seeing people stand up to authority. In her past experience, it never really ended well.

"Suigetsu," the person repeated warningly.

"Or," he said, standing up. "Do you not know either? Is he keeping his favourite assistants in the dark?"

"Suigetsu!" the assistant yelled. "Enough with the back talk."

He smirked, unfazed by the reaction. "Bingo, we have a winner." He tilted his head. "I wonder why he didn't tell you. Is he worried you'll interfere somehow? Or are you just that beneath his notice?"

"Enough," the assistant said, trying to regain their authority. "Just, go to your testing stations. You need to be evaluated before you go."

"Of course we do," he said. Surprisingly, he didn't push after that and the assistant left. He turned back towards Sakura. "Until later."

With that the two went their separate ways. Some of the subjects shared testing sites, but hers and Suigetsu's were different. Something she was thankful of currently, as their conversation had gotten quite uncomfortable for her.

There were already people with clipboards waiting for her by the bed.

First they got her to do a series of drills. From weight lifting to push ups, they evaluated her fitness. She didn't know if they thought she did well or not, they just scratched everything into their clipboards.

Next they got her to lie down as they took blood samples. As they prodded her, her mind kept drifting back to what Suigetsu said. Was her goal really that silly? Was all of her hard work here really in vain?

She knew that her chances of killing even one Uchiha were slim. Taking away their status and the fact that they were always surrounded by guards, they still had magic. Very powerful fire magic. And that was something she didn't have, couldn't have, no matter what they did to her in this place.

On that note, she still wasn't completely sure what the end goal for her was supposed to be. She knew they were trying to make her stronger, more powerful in every sense of the word. But for what? Was she supposed to help them fight something? Or was she simply going to be sold to the highest bidder?

Suddenly she felt incredibly helpless. Here she was, going towards some impossible goal, training at a place where she was just a lab rat. Suigetsu was right, she had no control over what went on here. No say in what they did to her. How did she even plan on leaving? Did she honestly expect them to just let her walk out the door?

And say she did manage to escape this place. What then? Did she just march up to the Uchiha residence and expect to be able to kill them one by one with no hassle? Even if she became a super soldier, she couldn't manage that.

Perhaps she should just give up. Acknowledge that she was just a slave who had no more power than cattle.

But as soon as she thought that, her mind flashed back to her brother. Her poor, sweet little brother who never got a chance at life. Him and hundreds of others innocent infants who died with consequence. She couldn't let those monsters just get away with that.

She didn't how she was going to do it, but she going to get those bastard Uchihas, starting with Sasuke. She was going to make them regret ever enslaving anyone. The streets would run red with their blood and the air would fill with their screams. Oh yes, she would make them regret everything. Even if she had to put herself through hell to do it.


	4. What Would You Give Up for Power

_Hey everyone! New update. Two in the same month, shocking isn't it?_

 _Just so everyone knows, Sakura (amoung other characters) is going to much darker than the original series from here on out. There's going to be a lot of death in this. With that lovely thought in mind, happy reading!_

* * *

Sakura's feet were incredibly sore. Scratch that, everything was sore. And she really didn't know how that was possible, since all she'd been doing for the past few days was walk. Well that and sleep on the hard, rocky ground.

They had been walking for four days straight. And she still didn't know where they were walking to. The destination remained a mystery. Suigetsu had all but demanded it out of Kabuto, but he had remained silent and forced all of the other workers to do the same. That made Sakura suspicious, and more nervous than she'd like to admit. Keeping it private wasn't unlike Kabuto, but since they were all going there anyway, she didn't see a need to keep them in the dark unless it was a place they wouldn't want to go to. Not that they had a choice in the matter.

All she knew was that they were leaving the dense forest and were getting close to a mountain range. A small part of her was actually excited, despite her worrying mind and aching feet. This was the first time she ever really went into the great outdoors, away from buildings. Well, aside from occasionally going to the nearby river, but she hardly thought that counted. And of course there was _that night_ , but she was unconscious for most of that.

At the thought of that day, Sakura clenched her fists and grounded her teeth together. It had been months since then, since the massacre. But she still couldn't think about it without getting sick to her stomach. The image of Konoha officials killing infants was a hard one to get out of her head. And then there was the one with Sasuke standing over her with a whip…

"Oi, Sakura."

Suigetsu's voice stopped her train of thought. She turned to look at him. "Yeah?"

"You looked like shit there for a moment. What's up?" He asked with eyes that were more curious than concerned.

She didn't want to admit what she was really thinking of, as she felt like he would probably judge her for it. Especially since it happened a while ago. So she deflected. "I was picturing you naked."

Without missing a beat, he retorted, "Liar. That is the complete opposite of the face you would be making."

Sakura was quick to continue the banter, eager to take her thoughts away from forcing her feet to keep moving. "I think you're hyping yourself up too much."

He snorted. "You don't know what you're talking about. I'd prove you wrong right here if I didn't think all of the bookies here would take the opportunity to study us."

There were quite a few people around them. There was one other person being experimented on, ten workers, Kabuto, and a small handful of guards. They were all walking in a rough line on a dirt path, or at least they were up until yesterday. Now they were making a new path along the grass and rocks. The only one who didn't have to walk was Kabuto, who was just going cheerily along on a horse.

"I shall have to suffer without it then," Sakura replied before her foot caught a rock. Crap! Fortunately she was able to regain her footing quickly without falling over.

Unfortunately Suigetsu watched the entire thing. He instantly threw back his head and laughed. "I see your training has been put to good use."

She glared at him. "Thanks for the help, asshole."

He simply shrugged. "We're all on our own in this life, Sakura. The sooner you realise that, the better you'll be."

That was awfully reassuring. However, before she could tell him that, Kabuto and the team came to a stop. "We're here," he announced.

If she had had any expectations about what their destination looked like, they would not have been met. They were in front of a rock. A big rock, but still just a rock. Was she missing something? Was Kabuto seeing some sort of mirage?

Despite her uncertainty, Kabuto seemed confident in his announcement and he got off of his horse. His eyes traveled for a moment around his party, then settled on Suigetsu. "Experiments, move this rock out of the way."

What? But it looked so heavy! "Consider it a test," Kabuto told them after seeing hesitation on all three of them.

Sakura, used to taking ridiculous orders from people, was already taking a step forward despite groaning on the inside. But a hand from Suigetsu stopped her. "No way, we are not moving that alone. Are you crazy?" he said.

Kabuto only smiled at Suigetsu's resistance. "Come now Suigetsu. You're not one to turn down a challenge, are you?"

"I am when it's just stupid. That rock is bigger than a person. Get your useless helpers to lend us a hand or we're not doing it."

 _Suigetsu_ , she thought to herself, _don't do this_. The part of her that was obedient to a fault to avoid slaver's whips was currently screeching. _Nothing good's going to come out of this. Better to shut up and do it to avoid getting shit for refusing_. All he was doing was putting Kabuto in a position where he would look weak if he gave in. "Suigetsu," he said as his smile became much more dangerous looking. "Just do it."

"No," Suigetsu replied, making a point to fold his arms and plant his feet firmly on the ground. Sakura went from screeching to outright yelling on the inside. _Just do it_ , she thought, _there's no way that this can end well, don't make it worse_. Kabuto and Suigetsu were now locked into a battle, and both were determined to come out dominate.

"Sakura," Kabuto said through gritted teeth. "Start moving the rock with Nura. It seems like we have to teach Suigetsu here a lesson on obedience."

"Don't you dare move, Sakura," Suigetsu said immediately after.

 _Why bring me into this_? She felt torn. Siding with Kabuto would mean avoiding any sort of punishment. But while she wouldn't go so far as to call them friends, Suigetsu was the closest thing she had to an ally, and she knew that Suigetsu would not forgive her any time soon if she went against him. And that rock looked way too heavy for two people. But she didn't know what kind of punishment Kabuto would have in store for her if she resisted. How did she get herself into these situations? And, more importantly, how could she get herself out of this one?

She remained frozen, unsure of what to do. Before either side could call her on this, Suigetsu noticed one of the workers creeping towards him. "Fuck this," he declared before taking a knife Sakura hadn't known he had out of his sleeve and slitting the worker's throat.

Chaos seemed like too small of a word to describe what took place next.

Angered by the insubordination, Kabuto ordered his workers to attack. Unfortunately, despite testing fighting abilities so often, most of the workers lacked them. They were victims of Suigetsu' attacks as he slashed and moved about. The guards fared better as they went to stop him. While Suigetsu was very skilled, a much better fighter than she was, he was having difficulty against such numbers.

Or at least he was until the other experiment, Nura, moved into the fray to help Suigetsu. She hadn't known Nura well, so she had no idea that he also disliked the experiments so much that he attacked now. Or maybe he just thought Suigetsu would win and decided to ally himself with the winner.

It wasn't until a loose dagger got accidentally thrown her way did she remember her current position. It would do her no good to just stay here, she needed to move! She tried, but her legs protested, remaining glued to the ground. Sakura hadn't fully realised how scared she was until that moment. What was going to happen to her? She had a feeling both sides weren't too happy with her at the moment. And what if she got caught in the fray? A killing blow was a killing blow, even if it was accidental. She didn't want to die so early in her life, especially when she hadn't even got an opportunity for vengeance yet.

Sakura had to leap out of the way, her legs finally coming to life, as Nura fell towards her while preoccupied in his battle. Unfortunately she didn't move fast enough and she ended up falling with him. He had an open wound in his side, and his blood fell onto her arm and tunic. She moved again when she saw a guard slash his sword down. Sakura moved fast enough that time, and the sword hit the ground where her body used to be. Nura moved and the fight was thankfully taken away from her.

 _Come on, do something,_ she tried to will herself. She looked around, where could she go? Running was a coward's move, yet cowards had a habit of staying alive after battles. Her eyes rested on the rock that she had been supposed to move earlier. What if she...

She was already on her way over before she finished the thought. If she had been in her right mind, she would have realised how stupid a decision it was and chastised herself for not choosing the bushes. But right now all she could think of was what either side would do to her after the fight was over. Kabuto certainly wouldn't be pleased, and the punishment for slaves fleeing their masters was a high one. He could easily hand her over to Konoha's guard. And as for Suigetsu, part of her thought that he wouldn't try to harm her. But then again, she hadn't thought that he would kill a worker so quickly either. She quickly arrived at the rock and immediately tried to push on it.

It wouldn't budge. Come on, she begged it, move. She pushed again, shoving as much might as she could into the action. To her surprise and relief, it obeyed her command and shifted back a little. That's it.

"Sakura, what the hell are you doing?" Suigetsu's voice rang out. He did not sound happy. Maybe he thought that she was trying to fulfill Kabuto's orders instead of trying to escape. Though she didn't think he'd like the latter too much either.

More, please, she continued to plead from the rock. She pushed with all of her strength. It continued to move, little by little. More! Sakura gave a final giant shove, feeling like all of the muscles in her body were going to pull apart with the action. Finally, the rock gave way.

She looked down and saw a trap door in the ground. Sakura didn't spare the battlefield a second glance before opening it and hopping inside. There was a staircase and she landed a few steps down. After she landed she turned around and noticed the hatch had a lock on the inside. She grabbed it and, with the door in hand, gave a final look towards the battle. Kabuto, who had unsurprisingly stayed out of the fight despite being one of the two instigators, met her eyes with shock once what she had done registered. Sakura responded with slamming the door back down and locking it. She heard an angry knocking above, but turned away.

It wasn't until she finished going down the staircase that she realised the consequence of her actions. In her own way, she had just defied Kabuto. To get into some cave that may not have a way out other than the hatch she just locked. She had no money, no where to go, and no one to depend on. Whatever Kabuto had been so desperate to find better be worth it. With no other option, she continued down into the cave.

She wished she had a torch with her, or was able to produce fire magic. It was incredibly dark, even after her eyes adjusted she had to stretch out her hands and follow the rock walls. The cave was exactly the way one would predict, damp and kind of creepy.

By the way the cave was situated, it was obvious that people wanted it kept hidden. She just wasn't sure of the degree. Aside from the giant rock, it wasn't particularly hard to get into. Though maybe that was part of the point. If the entrance was a big spectacle with gates and wards, that may attract attention to it. Whereas in its current location unless you knew exactly where to look you were likely in for a wild goose chase.

She let out a curse as she nearly tripped over a rock. Once again, she wished she had some light with her, she could barely make anything out. She didn't even see how long the path in front of her went for. What if she got lost and never made her way back out? What if she died in here? _Relax_ , she tried to tell herself, _you've been in here for barely five minutes_.

Five minutes turned into a few hours. Or at least that's what it felt like. At this point it was hard to tell if she was even walking in a straight line anymore. And it was becoming difficult to convince herself to keep going. Her already sore feet felt like they were threatening to fall off. And she hated not being able to see well. She was tempted to suck up her pride and start crawling. And she was very tempted to give up and start heading back.

 _It wouldn't be so bad_ , she told herself. _You'd be away from Kabuto and the others, you'd have a fresh start_. As long as she stayed away from Konoha, most would have no clue who she was. She could figure out what to do after she got back out.

As soon as those thoughts came out, she reminded herself how stupid they were. She'd have nothing. What was a point of a fresh start if she couldn't do anything with it. At least with Kabuto she had guaranteed food and a way to train. Speaking of that creepy man, there was no way of knowing if he had left or not. For all she knew he could still be there with a beating waiting for her, or worse. So she continued forward, hoping to find whatever he was after. If it was something powerful, she could use it to her advantage. If it was valuable, she could try selling it.

Hours later she actually was crawling along the floor. Her feet just refused to cooperate. And she was seriously contemplating resting for a while. It wouldn't be particularly comfortable, but that wasn't anything new for her. She could just take a nap then-

She stopped when she saw something up ahead. And, in a very odd way, felt something. It was like looking at something in a river, hazy and distorted. It looked like some kind of monster with ten tails, or at least the outline of one. And she felt some sort of darkness seep into her skin. Instantly she bit her lip and forced herself to stand. Just what was happening?

"H-hello," she said, unsure of why she was talking at all. This feeling wasn't a good one and part of her really wanted to leave.

A deep voice answered her. "My first visitor in centuries, and it's this scrap of a thing."

That terrified her. She didn't hear the voice from her ears, but she heard it in her mind. How did this...whatever it was, talk? Was she dreaming, or just delirious from her journey? She had to hold onto the nearby stones to keep herself upright. What the hell did she get herself into?

"Who are you to call upon me?" The voice demanded to know.

She opened her mouth, but couldn't force words out. She was too scared. Sakura could hear her heart pounding, her hands were clenched. What was this thing? Was it what Kabuto wanted to find?

"Are you mute? Answer me."

"Sakura, my name's Sakura." She forced the words out.

"You seem rather unprepared for me."

"I-I didn't know what to expect coming here," she explained meekly.

"You came to my cave by accident?" It sounded almost offended.

"No. Not exactly," she said.

"Explain yourself then."

"I came here with a group. I got separated from them," she said. "They knew why we were coming, I didn't."

"In a group?" The..thing paused. "You look rather low status."

"I was-am," she didn't know what to say. If she admitted her past, what would this thing do? She imagined that it didn't think too highly of her already. If she said that she was a slave in the past, would it think even lower of her? She already got the impression it wasn't something she wanted to get on the wrong side of. Or the right side of really. "I was an experiment. Err, I was being experimented on by a group."

"For what purpose?"

"I don't entirely know," she admitted.

"Do you know _anything_?"

If she wasn't so scared at the moment, she would have felt offended. "I was being put through physical training quite a bit. I believed that I was going to be sold as a weapon, or given some sort of enhancement to test its effects."

"And you're fine with being used like that? Just an animal being experimented on, not even knowing why."

That statement angered her, though she tried not to show that for self preservation reasons. "I had my own reasons for putting with it."

"Which are?"

At first she didn't want to say anything. She was so used to hiding her intentions. And she had never told anyone her goals before. But she had a feeling that now was not a good time to lie. So hesitantly, she explained her two goals. To murder the Uchihas and free the slaves. Knowing it would probably ask her motivations, she also explained why she wanted these things, hoping that it wouldn't think badly of her for being a slave before. It was both nerve-racking and relieving to finally have her story put out there.

"Revenge. A suitable goal," it said. "I wonder, between these two goals, which you feel stronger about. Is it revenge for those who wronged you or justice for your people?"

"I feel both equally," she told it.

"Really?" It didn't seem convinced. "So tell me, Sakura, where is this group that you separated yourself from?" She recounted how Suigetsu had attacked the others. "You moved the stone by yourself?" She nodded. "Impressive. And you just left everyone else to their fate? Even locked the entrance behind you."

"They would have done the same," she defended herself.

"No need for the explanation. I do not care for human concepts of charity." It paused before continuing. "So do you truly have no ideas of what I am?" She shook her head. "Pity how humans tend to forget things over the centuries. I am the great demon Shinju."

"You're…" her jaw dropped. She had heard stories about the demon. How he had laid waste to mountains and entire cities before finally being sealed. He was the one parents warned their children about if they weren't being good, and the one people were scared about being under their beds at night. The battle to take him down was actually what had united Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju.

"So you are knowledgeable about something after all." The demon paused for a moment before moving. "I have a proposition for you, little girl."

It had a what? "What is it?"

"I cannot go beyond this cave, these wards," it growled angrily. "I have been stuck in this pit for too long. But I can leave, if I am inside of someone."

Inside? Oh god, did it mean possession? It wanted to possess her? Now she really felt like running away. Why on earth did Kabuto want to meet this monster? Her feet slowly began moving backwards without her fully aware of the action. "Don't move," it commanded.

She froze.

"Listen to my offer, human. I will possess you. And when you die, I will have control over your soul."

Both did not sound particularly good to her. She really needed to get out of here! How could she get away now? Would it pursue her if she ran? Was it in a state to do anything?

"You will get much out of this bargain though," it told her. "You will hardly notice me while you're alive. I will rarely speak, and will never control your actions. You will get access to all of my power, all of my magic." She would? "I thought that would peak your interest. Imagine being stronger than all of the Uchihas combined. Imagine being able to slaughter all of them. Imagine their blood flowing down that stream, like your brother's did."

That did sound good to her. Very, very good. She closed her eyes and imagined Fugaku dieing. Sasuke, that arrogant bastard, begging for life only to take it away. And all other Uchihas going down with them. The sight was almost euphoric to her. And it seemed to close now. Not just a dream, but reality.

"And imagine having the power to free the slaves. Be their hero. Perhaps even be their new leader, start a new nation of your own."

Sakura frowned just a touch. "I do want to free the slaves. But I don't need the glory. I don't want to be a queen."

"Fine," the demon said dismissively. "But regardless, you would accomplish both your goals. Think about it."

She did. So much power, and all of it at her command. It was so tempting. To have her two impossible goals become not only possible, but likely. All of those who mistreated slaves could pay for their crimes. She could guarantee freedom for the powerless. But at what cost? Possession was not something to be taken lightly. Once the decision was made, she could not take it back. What if she later regretted her decision? And her soul. "What would you do to my soul after I died?" she asked Shinju.

"Whatever I wish. I could travel with it, use it to power me," it said honestly. "But whatever I do with it, it would be better than having it sent to hell. Which is likely where it would end up if you're able to fulfill your mission."

She wasn't sure about that last part, she wasn't sure if the afterlife existed. And didn't exactly trust the demon who wanted something from her to tell her the complete truth. The only thing she believed she could glean from that is she'd be helpless, totally under his whim. Maybe he'd destroy her somehow, use her to fuel him.

What it all came down to was how much she wanted to achieve her dream, her mission. She could leave here, if he let her go that is, start anew on her own. But she had no resources, no name for herself, and no one to rely on. If she was going to be honest with herself, she didn't have a chance of accomplishing either goal if she just walked away now. So her options were to either join with Shinju, allow herself to become a puppet, or to walk away and give up on her mission entirely. Could she do that? Just walk away, try to live some normal life far away?

No. She had been through too much. Her every moment would be haunted by guilt and remembrance of her past. She couldn't just give up what she set her mind to, what she had been working towards. Even if it would be a much smarter decision. And maybe she'd secretly find a way to get rid of the possession before she died. Use him instead of the other way around. Anything was possible in this world, right?

"If I do this, is there some sort of contract?" she asked cautiously. "Something that would guarantee that you wouldn't control my actions while I still lived, and that I'd have access to your power?"

"My word isn't enough?" Shaken by his tone, she found it hard to shake her head. "Smart human." One of the ten tails moved, and suddenly a piece of paper appeared on the ground near her. "Read this over. If you agree to its terms, sign it with your blood. If not, get out before I decide to kill you."

She picked it up and read it over. The terms were as he had spoken; she would get unconditional use of his power while she was possessed by him, and he would not force her actions. In return, she would allow him to possess her without refusal. And when she died, he would get unconditional access to her soul. She wasn't sure who got a better deal. But that at this point, she was set on doing it.

Before she signed it, she had an idea. She didn't know if she'd get caught, or if it would even help anything. It may not impact the agreement at all. But she had to try it. With her now wet hand, she brushed the blood on the tunic, making it look like she was just scratching an itch. Then she bit her finger, but making sure to do so underneath the blood now on her fingertip. After she created a wound, she signed her name with her fingertip. "I'll do it."

She barely got the words out before she felt him rush into her. Sakura dropped to her knees and screamed. It was so overwhelming. It wasn't painful, and she definitely didn't feel any pleasure from it. It felt like a gigantic force pushing into her, pulsing through every cell in her body. The feeling was relentless, she had never felt so helpless in her entire life. Her head was forced to shoot up as it felt like something was forming on her forehead and her eyes heated up. Make it stop! That was her only thought as it ransacked through her body. The feeling last for several excruciating minutes.

Then it ended. And Sakura felt more powerful than she ever had before. She stood up with ease, her feet no longer aching. This was it, she was now possessed by Shinju. And yet, she felt no remorse about it, no desire to go back on her agreement. All this magic, now at her fingertips ready to use.

Yes, she thought as she lifted a hand. After a moment, a spell came to her instantly. Once activated, black energy surged from her hand, denting a nearby stone. She smirked and whispered to herself.

"Konoha will tremble."


	5. The First

"You still don't know where she is?" Fugaku said angrily.

"No," Sasuke admitted, meeting his father's eyes by sheer force of will alone. He had known as soon as he was summoned to his father's throne room that he wasn't going to like this conversation. Interactions with his parents never seemed to go well these days.

"Have you tried to look at all?" his father demanded to know.

"I have employed several spies and mercenaries. None can find her," Sasuke said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Based on the look his father gave him in response, he hadn't employed enough people. Or at least not the right ones. "Obviously you haven't been trying hard enough."

He and his father were the same height, but in times like these it felt like his parent towered over him. "I don't see what the big deal is," Sasuke said to defend himself. "It's just one slav-"

His words were cut off when his father slapped him. "Fool," he decreed. "Word travels quickly. One angry person can soon turn into many. Never underestimate a person's will. And if her sibling, or son or whoever it was died, she certainly has reason for revenge. It's a risk we can't afford."

 _Maybe you shouldn't have ordered their sibling dead then_ , Sasuke thought darkly as he fought the urge to rub his reddened cheek. Personally he thought his father's order to kill all the infant slaves stupid. The slaves already had enough reason to hate them. This had just increased the chance of rebellion. They had had to kill ten slaves already that were caught trying to start one. "She had fallen into the river. There's a good chance she's dead."

"If there's no body, they're not dead," Fugaku told him. "You should have killed her when you had the chance."

"I had given her twenty lashings," Sasuke said. "That would be enough for any slave."

"Not for this one," Fugaku stated, as if he was talking to a child. "She had already proven to be reckless. You were being too soft."

He regretted telling his father about it at all. Sasuke had originally mentioned as a side comment, something not said to be taken too seriously. But his father had reacted like he had just opened the floodgates to a torrent of water. "I did what any reasonable person would have done," Sasuke said.

He had apparently said the wrong thing again. Not that he could ever say the right thing to his father. Fugaku's hand twitched, but he did not strike his son again. "Our family did not come this far by being 'reasonable.' We've been smart. And we don't take chances. Thank heavens Madara had never been like you, or we'd be some peasant family."

Considering the fact that nothing he said seemed to please his father, he kept silent, waiting for his father to ride out this wave of anger. "They call you the false prince, the common folk. With mistakes like this, it's easy to see why. Almighty help us when you eventually rule."

That one stung, badly. But he was determined to not let his father see it. If he had been smarter, he would have continued his silence. But his temper flared, something he inherited from his oh so lovely parent. "Well you did have another option. But you drew him away."

"Why you!" Fugaku raged, raising his hand again.

Before it could come down on Sasuke's face, Minato entered the room. "Fugaku, are you ready for our meeting?" he asked, acting oblivious to the anger around him.

Fugaku was likely late. Knowing Minato, he had heard the argument and opted to come himself, knowing that any messenger he sent would be on the receiving end of Fugaku's wrath. His father blinked, and in an instance any trace of anger on his features was gone. "Just about," he said, hiding any annoyance he may have had for Minato's abrupt arrival. "My son was just leaving." His gaze turned towards his son. "Contact the Nara family."

Once his gaze turned back towards Minato, Sasuke knew that was his cue to leave. An order he quickly obeyed. He strode out of the room with the aura only a Uchiha could have. It was his intention to return to his quarters, but he was quickly interrupted. "Hey, Sasuke!"

The dobe hurried towards him, oblivious as always. His normal goofy smile was on his face as he came to Sasuke's side. The Uchiha was really not in the mood for his best friend's antics and immediately decided to ignore him. He began walking to his quarters as if Naruto wasn't even there.

"Why so broody?" Naruto said, not getting the obvious hint. "I mean, more than normal. Were you just talking to your fath- oh." Realisation dawned on Naruto. "I take it things didn't go well between you two."

"Do they ever," Sasuke mumbled. He once again felt a twinge of jealously towards the relationship Naruto had with his parents. Even when Itachi had been around his father could hardly be called a caring parent. Once his favourite child had taken off, Fugaku had gotten worse. All of the pressure that had been put on the golden child had been put on Sasuke and then some, seeing as his father seemed to believe that Sasuke was incompetent.

"What was he cranky about this time?" Naruto asked.

"The usual," Sasuke said. "I 'let' one half dead slave fall into the river, so of course I'm a failure in his eyes. That's just his excuse though. He's mad that Minato isn't letting him crack down harder on the slaves after he killed their kids, and I became his target."

The blond's expression softened. "I'm sorry Sasuke, that must be hard."

"Why are you sorry?" Sasuke said, keeping his eyes trained to the long hallway in front of them. "You didn't do anything."

He expected Naruto to make some stupid heartfelt remark, but he actually fell silent for a few moments. "Sasuke," he began. "Do you think about what it will be like when we're the ones on the throne?"

 _I'm not really allowed to forget about it_ , he thought. "Obviously," he said. "Why?"

"I sometimes hear servant's gossip," he told Sasuke before quickly putting his hands up. "Yes, I know you don't care for it. They call me careless, fool hearted, a child. They say that the kingdom's going to fall into rule once I step up."

Once _we_ step up, Sasuke felt like adding. "You're young," he said.

"Suna's ruled by someone as young as us," Naruto pointed out.

"And everyone in that place is terrified of him," Sasuke pointed out. "Besides, it's not like your father's given you any responsibilities yet."

"Not for lack of trying," Naruto mumbled as they turned the corner. Sasuke knew that Naruto had been trying for a while now to convince his father to let him take on more duties. Minato had refused, wanting his son to have a 'proper childhood'. Apparently 18 still counted as a child to him.

The halls of the Dual Castle had always looked unnecessary to Sasuke. The entire place was a river of gold and red, the colours of the Uzumakis and Uchihas. Statues and paintings decorated nearly every inch of the place. It was the finest castle in the land according to everyone who stepped foot in it, though being under the gaze of those ruling it may have something to do with that decision. Now the walls seemed to scrutinize him, along with the rest of the bloody world. "Let's prove them wrong," he declared, just as much to the walls as to Naruto.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked him.

"Let's not wait for them to roll in their graves to do something important. If we want a name, a better name, for ourselves, we have to make one," Sasuke said, turning to face Naruto for the first time.

Naruto paused for a moment, then smiled. "Agreed. And when we rule, let's be better rules than our fathers."

"Agreed."

* * *

This wasn't what Sakura thought possession would be like.

Not that she had had any for sure ideas of what it would be like before today. But when she thought of possession, her mind sprung to the stories of a body being controlled by two minds. Yet hers was still controlled with just one, her own. She liked being in control of herself. But still, it was rather anticlimactic.

She had been standing in the same spot in the cave for an hour now. Not out of exhaustion, she had felt better as soon as the demon entered her body. And not because it had taken her a long time to let it sink in. She did have an initial reaction of 'what did I just do' but the feeling left rather quickly. Sakura wasn't overcome with regret. Instead, she reminded herself that she did what was necessary.

Planning, that was what she had done for the past hour. The cave didn't seem so frightening now. It felt almost quaint, homelike even. She might have thought it was the demon's influence but she figured the fact that he had made terms with her implied that he had had enough of this place. In a way, he was in servitude to her. At least until she died, then it would be the other way around.

With all of this power in her control, she could go right to Konoha. Her dreams didn't have to wait, she could make them happen right now. By this time next week the slaves could be freed and the Uchihas would be dead. Maybe even the Uzumaki family too, she hadn't decided yet.

Her thoughts were paused when she head footsteps coming closer to her. Before interacting with the demon, her first instinct would have been to hide. But now she found herself feeling no fear, and was intrigued to see who came down. Would it be Kabuto and his lackeys, or did Suigetsu manage to get away? She waited to see who it would be.

It was Kabuto. He was carrying a torch that looked close to being burnt out. By the looks of him, he had been wandering around for quite some time. His clothes showed that he had taken more than one tumble to the ground.

When he saw her there was uncertainty in his eyes. But as soon as he identified her, he relaxed. "Sakura," he greeted her as he stood up right.

"Kabuto," she said.

His normal smug look appeared on his face, like his breeches weren't caked in mud. "I'm happy to see that you made it out of that fiasco alright," he said.

"I am too," she said.

"We managed to quell that fiasco eventually, though that bastard Suigetsu killed most of the group then managed to get away. Though I suspect he'll die soon enough. He's not nearly as smart as he likes to believe."

 _Unlike yourself_? She thought but didn't say out loud. "Pity," she said without emotion.

"Lucky that you missed most of the bloodshed," Kabuto commented as he took a step towards her. "And that door just happened to fall down and get locked behind you."

A year ago she would have been afraid. A day ago she would have been wary. At the moment she didn't feel much of anything. "Well," she said as she took a step towards him in turn. "You know those doors. Always want to lock themselves."

If he was surprised by her audacity, he hid it. "Yes, of course. Well we can deal with that...accident later." Then he took a look around. "When you were down here, did you see anything unusual?"

"Like what?" she asked, knowing what he was likely referring to.

She saw conflict appear on his face. He likely felt torn about whether or not to reveal what he was trying to find in the cave. Kabuto did love his deception, even when it was pointless. Finally, he revealed what he wanted. "There's a powerful demon that is sealed in here. Or at least rumored to be."

"Really?" She said, feigning surprise. "I didn't know they were still around."

"Most aren't," he said. "The few remaining are sealed away from people. A bit of a shame if you ask me. So much potential hidden away."

"But isn't the general public so much safer with them away?" she pointed out.

"I suppose they are. But it is still a great waste," he said.

"What did you intend to do once you found it?" she asked him.

"Why, study it of course." he said. "And see if there's a way to harness or extract its power."

"I see," she said. "And you think the demon would be fine with you studying it like that?"

"When a demon is sealed, its harnessed inside an artifact. Couldn't hurt anything if it tried," he told her.

It felt good to know something that he didn't. She decided to play along for a little while longer. "So what if this demon gets out or refuses to cooperate?" she asked. "I mean, you can only study the object itself for so long."

He looked puzzled for a moment and Sakura saw just how little he knew about what he was trying to study. "It's safe as it is," he said. "If not, then you experiments were to act as our backup."

"Backup? In what way?" she asked.

A small groan escaped him, as if he was growing tired of explaining himself. "To protect us, what else. Shield us if needed, or if it comes to it, be sa-" he cut himself off.

She was going to ask about the being the shield remark, but his abrupt stop caught her attention. "Be what?" she demanded.

He didn't answer.

She took a step forward. "Be what?" She thought would word started with 'sa.' "Sacrificed?" she said angrily. "Is that it?"

He didn't answer again, but this time he didn't need to. His eyes hardened. "You were going to sacrifice us?"

"If need be," he grounded out.

"Well then," she said, stepping so close that she was an arm's length from him. "It's a good thing that I found it first."

His eyes opened wide with shock and his jaw dropped open. "Sakura you-" he squinted a little. "Your face. What did you do?"

She had no idea what her face currently looked like, though by the burning sensation that had been in her eyes she guessed they may have looked different now. "I did what I needed to do."

"And what would that be?" he said in confusion.

She supposed it did no harm to reveal what had happened. "The demon and I came to an agreement. It is currently inside of me."

His face was full of shock again. "You're now possessed by it. Voluntarily?"

"Yes, that's correct," she responded.

She watched the wheels in his head turn as he tried to process this information. "That is unexpected." A small smile appeared on his face. "Though not necessarily a bad thing. It may be much easier to study when it's inside someone."

Especially someone who was under his control. But she quickly made the decision that that would no longer be the case. "Too bad you're not going to be able to study them."

"What?" he said, his tone becoming more darkened.

"At least, not while it's in me," she said. "I joined you to become more powerful. Now that I am, I don't need you anymore."

"Why you ungrateful bitch," he spat angrily. "I took you in and this is how you repay me?"

"You experimented on me," she replied. "And apparently was going to sacrifice me. Even if you didn't, I would never be free under you. Our time together is over."

"How dare you!" In his burst of anger he waved the torch at her. She dodged and quickly countered by summoning black sparks. They came, but not nearly as many as she wanted. However it was enough to wound him and send him flying backwards onto the ground.

She tried again to summon stronger lightning as Kabuto withered and cried from his wounds. But nothing came from her hands. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins and she didn't have time to feel frustrated. Instead, she acted without thinking and grabbed the slowly extinguishing torch. Without a second thought, she took it and lit Kabuto's clothes on fire. He screamed and tried to roll away. But she grabbed the top of his body and held him down. When the fire reached his face she let go and watched his body get engulfed by the flames.

Hours later she emerged from the cave, letting the corpse of her former keeper rot inside.


End file.
